Press-drill



(No Model.)

J. L. ASHURST. PRESS DRILL. No.' 552,978. Patented Jam. 14, 1896.

UNITED STATES PATENT EEicE.

JOHN L. ASHURST, OF HAVANA, ASSIGNOR TO LEVIS B. ASHURST, OF KILBOURNE, ILLINOIS.

PRESSDRiLL SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 552,978, dated January 14, 1896.

Application filed August 22, 1895- Serial No. 560,109. (No model.)

To CLZZ whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, JOHN L. ASHURST, of Havana, in the county ot' Mason and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Press-Drills, of which the following is a speeilication.

rlhis invention relates in part to mechanism for automatically shifting drill-clutches and in part to mechanism for lifting the runner-frames. It is applicable to any drill that has a Wheel-frame adapted to drive the planting mechanism and carry the runner-frame, it is exemplified in the structure hereinafter described, and it is defined in the appended claims. V

In the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure l is a side elevation of a drill embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan of details relating to the clutch and its shifting mechanism. Fig. 3 is a side vieuT of the clutch-shifting bar in connection with one of the clutch members.

The parts of the drill that are relatively immovable in the act of raising the runnerframe are designated by numerals, as follows: 3 is the Wheel-shaft, or one of them. 2 indicates a press-\vl1eel,with a set of which each Wheel-shaft is provided. l is a sprocket- Wheel on an end of the shaft of the press- Wheels, which also constitutes one of the clutch members used to disconnect the plantingshaft from the Wheel-shaft when the runners are raised. clear of the ground. 4 is a clutch member fixed on shaft 3, and 5 is a spring that resists motion of Wheel l away from member et. These features have a delinite corela'tion with certain parts that move with relation to the Wheel-shaft in. the act of raising the runner-frame, and their specific peculiarities will be pointed out after such moving parts have been described.

As the parts that move in act of raising and lowering the runner-frame are cach shown in tuo positions-one by solid lines and one bybroken lnes-I have, to avoid ambiguity, used. a capital letter to designate a part shown in solid lines, and applied the same letter in lower-case to same part in the position indicated by broken lines. For instance, A is the seed-box in one position and a is the same element in a diiierent position. The solid lines show the corelation of parts when the runners are in the ground. The broken lines show the runners raised, and other parts in the positions they naturally assume when the runners are raised.

As before stated, A designates the seed-box.

B is a sprocket-Wheel on the seed-delivering shaft of the seed-box.

C is a bar of the runner-frame.

D is a pin projecting laterally from the upper rear corner of an end of the seed-box.

E is a chain that connects Wheel l with Wheel B and provides means whereby t-he planting-shaft maybe driven by the rotation of the shaft ot the press-wheels.

F is the tongue.

Gis a bar rigidly connected With the tongue and extended rearward therefroinnin other Words, a rearward extension of the tongue proper.

H is a bar of the wheel-frame, which connects pivotally with the runner-frame at I, or, so far as this invention is concerned, atany other desirable point..

J is one of a pair of supporting-bars that are hinged to the Wheel-t`ra1ne in rear of the Wheels and extend upward approximately vertically.

K is a brace-bar that connects with the tongue at about the position indicated by X on bar C and with bars J near the upper ends thereof.

Bar L extends up and down, though not, in this instance, at least, in vertical lines, and it connects above its lower end with bracebar K. Seat-bar M connects at its front end With bar L, and it extends rearward past the upper ends of bars J, with which it also conneets. It carries a seat, as N, at or near its rear end, and the seat is preferably slidable on the bar. A footelever O is swung from the lower end of bar L, it has a foot-rest or trcadle I on its rear end, and it connects at its -front end With tongue extension Gr by means of link V. A block Q, fastened onto the foot-lever back ot the pivotthereof provides a pivotal point of connection for the lower end of hand-lever It, which handlever rests ordinarily in about the position shown in solid lines. A iieXible connection, composed, in this instance, of links S, T and U,

extends from the hand-lever at a point above the pivot thereof to foot-lever O at a point ICO f in front of its pivot. A bar N is slotted at Y to lit over the diminished circumference of clutch-collar 4, as shown in Fig. 3, and it slots, and it is pivotally connected at its has lateral incline-s, as Z, at its lower end.

`BarX is connected with bar NV in a manner f through the clutch, the chain E and the wheel B. The upper end of the clutch-shifting bar is connected with the highest and most rearf ward `part of the planting-frame-namely,

the rear upper corner of an end of theseedbox-and in consequence theclutch-shifting bar stands so nearly vertical that the boX in rising exerts a` pretty direct pull away from the clutch and develops much more longitudinal motion in the bar than is required to shift the clutch. This is permitted by the length of the slot in the bar, and the shifting-inclines are placed at the lower end of the bar in order that the final rising motion only may affect the clutch. This provision permits the runners to rise and fall freely in act'of planting without disturbing the clutch, and utilizes the .rising motion that occurs after the runners are clear of the ground,-or at least too high yto plant, to throw the clutch out of engagement. To make this more clear the raising of the runners may be divided into two continuous movements, one of which carries the runners to the surface of the ground, and the other of which elevates them still farther a distance sufficient to provide clearance in turning, &c. The first-described operation may be performed without bringing the clutch-shifting inclines into operation, and so there is no danger of the seedshaft stopping its rotation so long as the runners are in operative contact with the ground.

The importance of the location of the clutchshifting bars connection with the plantingframe will be understood when it is considered that the wheel-frame and the plantingframe are in the same horizontal plane, generally speaking; that the planting-frame is pivotally connected with the front end of the wheel-frame, and that in act of rising the planting-frame as a whole describes an are of a circle with the wheel-shaft for a center; but the tongue holds the runner-frame in an approximately horizontal position, and consequently the parts higher than the hinged connection between the two frames are carried away from the wheel-shaft as the runnerframe rises, while those lower are carried' toward said shaft. rlhe end of the tongue ple of the invention.

forms a pivot on which therunner-fraine swings as it rises, and so the farther to the rear the greater the rise. Moreover, the farther to the rear of the runner-frame the clutchbar connection is located the nearer it is in vertical alignment with the wheel-shaft and clutch and the more nearly the clutch-bar will be moved in the direction of its length. lith this explanation it will be seen that the position of the connection of the clutch-bar with the planting or runner frame, of which theseed-box constitutes a part, is of first importance in providing an automatic clutchshifter that will not disengage the clutch so long as the runners are in planting relation to the ground.

The inclines are one slot in order that they maynot cralnp the ysprocket-wheel on the shaft in sliding it awa y from the collar, and in this instance they are Lboth on the one face ofthe bar.

however, be placed on the opposite face or They ma y.

the bar, or be partly on one face and partly on the other, without materially altering their operation or in anyway affecting rthe princi- The bar is made longitudinally extensible so that the inclines may be adjusted to operate on the clutch aty the precise point in the rise of the runner-frame that the required effect demands. f

lith the exception of the foot-'lever O and the hand-lever R, each member of the liftin gframe is rpreferably composed of tivo parallel bars bolted together and to the conjoining member in a manner to form pivots. This peculiarity of construction supplies a stiff.

strong, and comparatively light frame,'very desirable, but not entirely essentiahto my invention. The lifting-frame is located at the transverse center of the drill inline with tongue extension G, and said extension swings between sections of the wheel-shaft. The flexible connection S T U, which may be a common chain, enables the foot-lever to lift independent of the hand-lever, and any form of joint that effects this result while imparting the lift motion of the hand-lever to the foot-lever may be substituted for the iexible connection. In other words, it is necessary to certain features of this part of my invention that the hand-lever may swing forward. but not backward, independent of the footlever in the act of raising the runner-frame.

The described peculiarities of the liftingframe enables the foot-lever to be used without moving the hand-lever, or the hand-lever to be used without applying foot-pressure. or both hand and foot pressure to be applied at once. It also gives the weight of the driver increased leverage without unduly extending the seat-frame behind the wheels, and thereby lightens the labor of the hand or foot, or both.

A man of ordinary strength and weight may raise the runners of a drill of ordinary size by means of foot-power, leaving both hands free to manage the team. A weaker.

on each side of ther IOO' IIO

lighter man or an unusually wide drill may require lthe greater leverage of the handlever, while a boy will need to use both the foot-lever and the hand-lever.

In the position shown by broken lines in the drawings the runner-frame has been raised without using the hand-lever. Vhen the hand-lever is employed it swings toward the seat, where it may engage a catch between bars M and hold the runners raised.

Having thus described my invention, I ela-iin as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentl. A press drill having a Clutch on the wheel shaft, and a clutch-shifter eonneeted with the upper, rear edge of the seed box in a manner permitting play of the clutch-shifter during the earlier rising and later falling Inotion of the seedy frame with relation to the wheel frame, substantially as set forth.

2. A press drill having a eluteh on the Wheel shaft, a bar having a playpermitting slot, suoli bar being,` interposed between anges of the Clutch members and connected with the planting` frame, and inelines on the bar at the end of the slot farthest from the planting frame, substantially as set forth.

A lifting frame for press drills comprising a vertical support carried on the rear end of the wheel frame, abraoe bar connecting the upper end of the vertical support with the planting'frame, a staybar connected with the brace bar between the ends thereof and eX- tended above and below the said brace bar, a seat bar connected with the upper end of the stay bar and with the upper end of the vertical support, a foot lever connected with the lower end of the stay bar and with a rearward extension of the planting frame, and a hand lever connected with the foot lever by means of a joint that is stiff as to back inotion of the hand lever and hinged as to forward motion, the other connections being pivotal, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I sign my naine in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN L. ASHURST.

Attest:

JOHN W. Pim-IAN, LEVI P. GRAHAM. 

